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Keith’s experience representing clients in the financial services industry as a litigation, compliance, regulatory, investigations (internal and regulatory), and enforcement attorney spans 20 years. Keith represents clients against government regulators (CFPB, FTC, SEC, CFTC), industry regulators (FINRA), and private litigants in federal courts, state courts, and before arbitration and administrative law panels in the financial services industry.

On November 10, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman issued cease-and-desist letters to FanDuel and DraftKings, the two largest daily fantasy sports companies, demanding that they stop accepting bets in New York State. 

According to the letters, daily fantasy sports constitute illegal gambling in violation of both the New York Constitution (N.Y. Const. Art

On November 3, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it has revised its appeals process and issued a new appeals policy.  The announcement was made in conjunction with the release of the CFPB’s Fall 2015 Supervisory Highlights.  According to the Bureau, the “revisions reflect experience gained in the appeals process so far, and

On November 4, 2015, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), 47 State Attorneys General, and other state and local law enforcement authorities from around the country announced the first coordinated federal-state enforcement initiative targeting deceptive and abusive debt collection practices. The initiative, named Operation Collection Protection, aims to crackdown on collectors who use illegal tactics

On October 29, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) announced the settlement of an enforcement action against two affiliated consumer reporting agencies under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) based on these companies’ employment background screening practices.  The consent order requires these background screeners to pay a total of $13 million in penalties and

On October 28, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed an administrative consent order against Security National Automotive Acceptance Company (“SNAAC”), an Ohio auto lender specializing in loans to service members, for engaging in illegal debt collection practices.  The order requires the company to refund or credit about $2.28 million to service members and other consumers

On October 29, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau filed a complaint in the Southern District of California against Global Financial Support, Inc. and its owner and CEO, Armond Aria, for allegedly engaging in a nationwide student financial aid scam.   

The Bureau claims that Defendants violated the UDAAP provisions of the Consumer Financial Protection Act when

In July 2015, several companies that were the targets of non-public Consumer Financial Protection Bureau investigations sued the Bureau after it refused to allow their current counsel to attend the Bureau’s investigative testimony of one of the companies’ former attorneys.  The companies wanted one of their current attorneys to attend the testimony and assert the

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it will hold a meeting of the Consumer Advisory Board with Director Richard Cordray discussing topics such as arbitration, trends, and themes in the marketplace, and reaching limited English-speaking consumers.  

The meeting will take place on Thursday, October 22, from 10:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. EDT in the

On October 1, 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau entered into a consent order with an indirect finance company, Westlake Services, LLC, and its auto title lending subsidiary, Wilshire Consumer Credit, LLC (collectively, “Respondents”).  Westlake specializes in purchasing and servicing subprime and near-subprime auto loans. Wilshire extends auto title loans directly to consumers.  Respondents agreed

The House Financial Services Committee is expected to vote Wednesday on bills to replace the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s sole director with a bipartisan, five-member commission (H.R. 1266) and require Senate confirmation for the CFPB’s inspector general (H.R. 957).

As we discussed here, The Financial Product Safety Commission Act (H.R. 1266), introduced on March